Wooly Morning

Wool is good. Wool is soft. Wool is cozy. Wool is in a big bag on my porch!
Friday morning we arrived to witness the shearing o' sheep at Jacob's Reward Farm  I was prepared for this to be an all day affair, but Danny the shearer is so fast that they were all shorn when we arrived! They look a little confused, but free and happy.

Determined to see some action, we hopped back in the car and headed to the next stop on the shearing tour,  Heritage Farmstead in Plano - a true piece of local history with the original farmhouse and barns still standing where they were built over a century ago. On April 3rd they are having their Spring Festival with more sheep shearing along with wool spinning and knitting demonstrations.

Watch this! 
Sheep Shearing from Jennifer Kate Stuart on Vimeo.
(If you are reading this on Facebook, you may have to click "view original post" to see the video). Amazing that a sheep can be liberated of it's fleece in about two and a half minutes (and all in one piece)!

After shearing, we helped a bit with skirting the fleeces. This is the initial cleaning up - removing any clumps of mud and poo along with fiber that is too short for spinning. We brought home a bag of the too short fiber (minus the mud and poo). It will be wonderful for felting projects and stuffing. I have a pet bed in mind to make for some lucky cats and dogs.